For the past few years Hawthorn Hill Homeless Shelter has been included as a beneficiary of the IAF Annual School Supply Drive. We have provided general school supplies including backpacks stuffed with everything a child might need to assist in their education. Our 2016 donation also added a check for $500 for the shelter to use as they see fit. This donation then appeared in

Hawthorn Hill’s annual newsletter which categorized the IAF along with churches, insurance companies, various business and individuals.

Because our 2017 School Supply Drive focused on science equipment, Hawthorn Hill did not receive a contribution from our group. Thus, we are instead having our first ever spring fundraiser dedicated to helping the good people at Hawthorn Hill! For our 2018 fundraising campaign we will increase the goal of our donation to $1000.

With your help Hawthorn Hill New Directions Shelter was able to assist 114 adults and 203 children in 2017. New Directions is one of only three homeless shelters available for families in the Des Moines metro area. We chose Hawthorn Hill as it is not overtly religious (you find no mention of religion on their website) and Executive Director Tim Shanahan has always expressed sincere gratitude for our previous years’ in kind and cash donations.

From their website: http://www.hawthorn-hill.org/

“Hawthorn Hill’s mission is to establish and operate housing programs for homeless families with children that help them obtain permanent housing and to provide services to help families achieve economic self-sufficiency.”

Hawthorn Hill fulfills its mission through two programs that assist homeless families with children:

The Home Connection: Provides permanent supportive housing for homeless families with children with an emphasis on helping the families attain financial independence.

Spring is a time for new beginnings and Hawthorn Hill provides a fresh start for families that have had the misfortune of losing everything. This could happento any one of us! We are all just one medical emergency, loss of job, or loss of a provider away from finding ourselves in the same situation. Please help today to make a difference in the lives of so many families. Thanks for your support!

Have you got four minutes? That is all the time you will need to read this missive and understand our goals for this year’s school supply fund drive.

For the past five years, the IAF has conducted an annual school supply fund drive, focused on Des Moines’ neediest children. Last year’s drive garnered a record level of support with $2356, but one experience served as a catalyst for change in how we approach our goal this year.

Toward the latter weeks of our 2016 fund drive, an out of state anonymous donor offered an additional $500, with one caveat: the entire amount must be spent on “science”. Judging from prior fund drives, this was a generous donation, so we explored the needs of several DMPS schools, with an eye on the neediest schools and “science.” We ultimately purchased and donated two quality, classroom-adaptable microscopes: specifically, the “OMAX 40X-2500X Lab Binocular Compound LED Microscopes, with Double-layer Mechanical Stage and Digital Camera.” Both scopes are still used on an almost every-day basis by the science teachers at Hiatt Middle School here in Des Moines. And one of the things we noticed when delivering the scopes was need; the equipment our donation replaced was outdated, to say the least. We also took note of the reception we received; the teachers were surprisingly grateful and appreciative. From that point, we decided to focus our efforts on closing the gap between DMPS science departments, with sadly deficient budgets, and schools outside the district who appear to be far more fortunate. After working with the science curriculum department at DMPS, an effort that included interviewing several science teachers, we were able to identify several areas of need that seem to fit within our fund budget.

TELESCOPES: Nothing is more “science” than a telescope that enables students to search the heavens for what is really up there. The Orion Astroview 90mm EQ Refractor Telescope is surprisingly affordable – about $279.00 plus shipping. The director of the DMPS science curriculum department explained that “we offer astronomy courses at several of our high schools that would benefit from direct space observations.” About three hundred bucks would help open the minds and opportunities of close to 100 kids in one east-side middle school alone.

And should our drive be even more successful, another scope that would serve teachers and students even more is the Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (Hydrogen alpha) with 1A Bandwidth. This scope, costing about $700.00, enables solar viewing during daylight hours, expanding learning to many inner-city kids who lack the means to travel after-hours.

MICROSCOPES: The committee’s research into DMPS science needs revealed two things: first, the extent to which teachers are doing their best to teach with outdated equipment and miniscule budgets is astounding. Teachers really do reach into their own pockets for some of the basic tools for the classroom. And secondly, for quality science equipment to benefit kids, it should ideally benefit teachers also, and be classroom-adaptable. One such scope that would benefit many students is the Leica EZ4 W, an “educational stereo microscope with digital cameras” that allows students to electronically connect their personal electronic devices to the scope. Utilized for biology, earth sciences, environmental science, and chemistry, the cost is about $505.00 plus shipping.

STREAM TABLE: Not being teachers, we were unfamiliar with this device, but it would appear to be particularly suited to Iowa. The “Science First Deluxe Stream Table” is a classroom tool for teaching earth sciences, including study of erosion, sediment deposition, behaviors of rivers and lakes, applications to agriculture, etc. One teacher told us “most teachers would change how they teach if they got one of these.” The cost is $549.00. The potential for benefitting many, many DMPS students is enormous.

SYNOPSIS: When considering this year’s school fund drive, think “science.” Please be as generous as you can afford to be. Help us teach DMPS kids what is really “up there” through a good telescope; help literally hundreds of young people learn about the true composition of matter with a quality microscope; give an entire science department a quality Stream Table, and teach a hundred kids about “earth science.” SCIENCE is part of what IAF is all about and the IAF will match donations up to $1000!

Thanks so much,

IAF 2017 School Fund Drive Committee

P.S. The donation phase of the campaign will run from Sept 15- Oct 15. Presentation of the science equipment to the DMPS system will be on Carl Sagan Day, Nov 9, 2017.

The 2016 School Supply Drive was the best yet! Thank you so very much to everyone who donated their money, time and effort! $2356 in donations, including a full 1K match from the IAF and proceeds from our volunteers working concessions at Wells Fargo Arena during the period of the Drive. Boxes of school supplies were delivered on Friday, Aug 19 to Hiatt Middle School and to elementary schools, Edmunds, Jackson, Moulton and Smouse. Additionally, ten backpacks stuffed with school supplies were delivered to Hawthorn Hill homeless families shelter. We still have another “special delivery” to make as we also received an additional $500 from an anonymous donor through the United Coalition of Reason for STEM specific items. Stay tuned!

I found Daniel Finney’s July 31 column interesting [Emails show Democrats disrespect for atheists], as I’m uncertain why there is this fear or hatred toward atheists. Atheism is really one plain and simple thing — a lack of belief in any god.

Not hatred of a god or religious person, just a non-belief. I don’t hate a person who has cancer without hating cancer. I don’t hate a child who believes in Santa Claus or unicorns. I simply do not share their belief. I have no agenda. I do not worship the devil or anything else. I believe in science, but do not worship it.

The national goal of the American Atheist Association is twofold — separation of church and state and to offer support to those who are like-minded and know they are not alone in a country where the majority have a religion. I do not deny we’re in a minority, but elimination of atheism worldwide would be accomplished easily — just prove there is a god.

Proving a negative is impossible. You can’t prove there is no Easter bunny or tooth fairy, so I can’t prove there is no god. The burden of proof is on those who tell me I should worship their god. Prove it exists and I’ll be happy to worship it. Any god. Poof! Atheism gone forever.

IAF PR Officer Jason Paul Benell appeared on WHO 13 to give the atheist perspective on the declining numbers of believers in the United States, particularly in Iowa, and particularly in the Catholic Church. Jason pointed out that groups like Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers are key in providing a safe place for people to question their faith and find camaraderie without the need for superstition. We also touched on the reasons people were leaving the Church: they weren’t finding the values in sync with their own, the constant need for money and support from its members, the scandals and general problems within the church, and simply not finding the stories true or relevant anymore. Hopefully IAF being a part of the story will lead to more exposure for more Iowans to come out of the closet (and the pew) and embracing rationalism, freethinking, and science over old superstitious institutions like the church!

After a hiatus due to construction, the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers were excited to get back to work on their section of highway and do their part to improve their community. The weather was perfect on a beautiful Saturday afternoon for the volunteers to make their newly upgraded section of I-80/35 look great again after many seasons of construction and renovation. IAF is glad to be a part of the volunteer Adopt a Highway program in central Iowa with annual clean ups to reinforce their commitment to community both within and without the group. Every year IAF volunteers can be seen taking care of the section of I-35/80 between Grand Avenue and Mills Civic Parkway on the Southwestern corner of the Metro, cleaning up everything from abandoned pop cans to even massive truck tires. This year was no different with great weather, a fun atmosphere, and a dedication to the cleanliness and engagement of the community with several drivers honking their appreciation and support of IAF! We hope to see you at our next highway clean up as well as at any of our many community and volunteer events!

Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers(IAF) is proud to announce the Jerry Carpenter Memorial Scholarship! Iowa has a long history of social activism among its student body and IAF encourages this tradition of student engagement on behalf of atheism and secular ideals. In order to better facilitate atheist activism by students in Iowa, IAF has announced the Jerry Carpenter Memorial Scholarship for those students that focus on atheism, secular values, and the separation of church and state in their educational careers. IAF believes that when atheism, along with separation of church and state, are discussed openly and freely, this results in more religious liberty-not less. By empowering young Iowans to speak out and provide a culture of open dialogue about seemingly difficult religious issues we open the door to a better understanding of what it means to be an atheist in Iowa and what this means for all Iowans in a public setting. This scholarship is designed to incentivize young Iowans to be open and forward with their atheism and to learn more about what the separation of church and state means for the non religious as well as the religious.

Those Iowa students that wish to ensure a more religiously free and open society are encouraged to participate in the Scholarship with a submission on the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers website (www.iowaatheists.org) where additional application information can be found.

IAF wants to assist at-risk teens in the LGBTQ community and elsewhere with information about how, when, and why to Come Out. The book “Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other and Why”, by Greta Christina, provides guidelines and advice applicable to secular people or those in the LGBTQ at-risk group – especially pre-adults. This book is a wonderful tool written by an author that is intimately familiar with both of these topics. Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers would like to provide this book for free to anyone that would like access to additional resources or assistance in Coming Out.Recently a young transgendered woman in Ohio, Leelah Alcorn, took her own life. In her final notes Leelah cited her parents’ refusal to accept her for who she was, the isolation that they had made her feel, and her parents continued pressure through religious means to change her identity. This is an absolute tragedy, and a tragedy that can be avoided by providing outreach and community for those that feel isolated and alone. Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers is dedicated to providing a safe and open community for those that feel unwelcome or isolated from their family and friends because of their (lack of) religious beliefs or LGBTQ status.
By contributing to the link below, your donation will allow IAF to purchase a case or more of this book along with other IAF resources. This book will be available on hand for free for at-risk individuals.

IAF appreciates your contribution and support in ending the kinds of isolation and alienation where Leelah Alcorn or anyone like her feels the need to take their own life.